I have loved ones that live a few blocks away from Pioneer Courthouse Square, where Somali-born suspected terrorist Mohamud planned to enliven the tree-lighting ceremony with fire and death. As I was celebrating the successful prevention of the catastrophe, I found an interesting difference in what I was hearing from my connections in the intel field. A different slant on what happened. One source, J. Price, opined:

Entrapment is bad, because it’s a moral gray area, and I don’t like gray areas.

the NSA tries not to concern itself with every petty loser who doesn’t like the U.S., and the NSA definitely doesn’t give people fake bombs and encourage them to commit terrorism. If it happens, the NSA gets them.

Just opinions, but a chorus is singing a song of Mohamud possibly being a victim of entrapment. That the FBI coulda and shoulda just apprehended the man and subsequently deported him to Somalia. Instead we got this media circus, which could have been totally avoidable. Why continue this pattern of close calls with hostiles when we could just deport them at any time? Not because the agency wanted to learn more about this kid’s contacts, and certainly not to placate any government agency overseers. This was all about the media attention the FBI has been thirsty for since 9/11.

And I for one could have done without knowing that a terrorist was even near my loved ones, albiet under observation by the Feds.

Now that it’s official that Universal will produce three films, interspersed with two seasons of a television series on NBC, and that this will be helmed by Ron Howard and scripted by Akiva Goldsman, I must first of all breath a sigh of relief. And that is, of course, followed by a shriek of WTF. Hopefully, this is the project that will return the Grazer/Howard/Goldsman team to its true potential, but they will have to travel the Wastelands and more to prove it.

I’m glad this recipe of film/tv/film/tv/film was concocted, as it seems the best way to do it. Even Lord of the Rings was supposedly impossible to bring to cinema, but Peter Jackson managed it with three long films (and a lot of commitment from production). Mr. Howard and Mr. Grazer are not without huge obstacles in their quest, either.

For one thing, the part of Jake needs to be especially tended to in the planning, writing, and shooting stages. If this project is to go on for many years, Jake needs to be someone who doesn’t age/change much physically during that time. Even if he does during the last phase, Jake is key to the entire Gunslinger theme, and needs to be a solid child actor. Eddie and Susannah are also key roles, and while many will speculate on casting of those two, I wish those two to be unknowns.

As for the Gunslinger, there may be hoots and hollers for Josh Brolin or some other marquee star, but for my money, the one actor I see fitting the bill as a badass with a heart of stone, but a scrap of compassion, and who has proved himself in a successful TV series with a Stephen King fanbase… is Josh Holloway.

Bad Robot

Amiright?

He has the potential to pull off all of Roland’s traits, from stoicism to sarcasm to dancing the rice dance. And looking like a hardcase the whole time.

It is with a heavy heart, and a sad farewell that I confess: Mel Gibson is forever stricken from my list of actors I like. It’s a huge loss for me, as The Road Warrior and Lethal Weapon were both pivotal movies in my youth. However, the actor whose alcoholism has affected his work throughout his life, the guy who we tried to forgive for his Jose Cuervo inspired drunk driving arrest tirade, the guy who was infamous for being a practical joker on set…

He’s done it again. And I have had enough. Here’s to filmmakers hopefully culling a good remake of the Mad Max franchise. Maybe even remake the strangely titled Braveheart. Seriously, did anyone ever say the word “Braveheart” in that movie? I think not. And Mr. Gibson is not brave, and he has no heart. This is the final straw.

In a way, the Internet is like one big complaint box at times, and occasionally will have a direct result on powerful decision-makers worldwide. I’m not sure that’s the case here, but many moons ago, this comic rendering of a serious malpractice issue flew around the tubes:

I mounted my own local campaign, praising employees that tessellated, and publicly humiliating those who did not. It’s clear I am not alone, an army of one, because this just got serious. Subway Down Under is the company’s media outreach arm, and the head honchos have released this new policy there.

I’m undecided over the bizarre conspiracy theory that Chatroulette Piano Improv Guy is actually Ben Folds doing some kind of Andy Kaufmann/Tony Clifton stunt. That’s beside the point that not only has Merton released a newly (and barely) edited version of his debut video, but the two people who felt privacy violations were the exact two I thought of when I heard the news that YouTube removed this awesomeness.

Um, Christopher Nolan? Could you please make this a reality? Found at the most wonderful comic book blog, Compassions, in which I whole-heartedly agree with her opinion on the news that Chris Evans (The Torch in The Fantastic Four) has agreed to star as Captain America:

i’m not even a marvel fan and i know this is wrong. you can’t have the same fucking actor play two heros from the same universe. thats fucking stupid.

They must be playing by JJ Abrams rules where you can just use alternate realities.

It’s still a slap in the face to cast this guy as the Captain.

I’ve seen other actors who seemed to have their choice of roles ahead of them… they just stop showing up in movies, and this dude survives the technical failure that was the F4 movies?